


Inspirational

by PeggyCarters



Category: Shefani, The Voice (US) RPF
Genre: F/M, fluffiest fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 04:44:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9641267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeggyCarters/pseuds/PeggyCarters
Summary: It's the bring your 'Inpirational Person Day' at school and Zuma has a very special guest.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I know I owe y'all a chapter of Something Different, I know and I'm halfway there. I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting. 
> 
> This idea came to my head a while ago and I actually had half of it written and I just thought I had to finish it.

Blake walks into Gwen’s house, minutes before the clock strikes 7. He hangs his keys right beside Gwen’s next to the door and makes his way to the kitchen, where he finds Zuma and Gwen preparing dinner. 

“Hey you two.” His country drwal echoes through the room. Gwen smiles up at him and Zuma does too, “Hi buddy!” Blake says ruffling his hair before walking up to his girlfriend, pecking her lips hello, “Hello gorgeous.” He says dipping a nacho in the guacamole Gwen was just finishing up,  “mhm, delicious.”

“Hi cowboy!” Her smile could light up the entire world. She just looks so happy lately. The kids spend more time around since her ex is in the UK filming The Voice UK, and that alone puts her in such a good mood, that and the fact that Blake’s around more. She has told him a bunch of times to go to Oklahoma, Nashville or just go hunting somewhere but he always shakes his head saying that here is where he wants to be. 

“Blake, Blake!” Zuma’s voice makes the couple break their eye contact as both their heads turn to look at the blonde boy sitting at the other side of the counter. “I have something I want to… ask… well, tell you.” The young boy babbles and then looks at his mother who nods, happily, encouraging him to carry on. Gwen lets her arm touch Blake’s, making him look at her for a moment. With just that simple touch Blake understands that this is important. He drops a kiss on Gwen’s hair and then rounds the island to sit on the stool next to Zuma. 

“I’m all ears.” Blake says looking down at Zuma. He’s probably, out of Gwen’s three sons, the more like her. Crazy funny and super reserved at the same time. Quiet and loud when needed, with the same blonde hair and same eyes. 

“So, I uhm…” Zuma starts. He plays with his hands and then looks down. 

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s just me.” The country singer says softly, squatting in front of the 8 year old so they are more or less in the same eye level. 

“There’s this thing at school on Friday called ‘Inspirational person day’ and I get to bring someone that inspires me to my class and talk about them.” He takes a deep breath and finally meets Blake's blue eyes. Blake only has eyes for him as he waits for the kid’s big announcement. “I… You inspire me, and mum and everyone in this house, really, so…” Blake forgets how to breathe for a few seconds until he hears the boy call out his name, “Blake?” 

He shakes his head and looks down.  _ Wow.  _ Right this moment he feels so much. Too much. He feels like a father. He inspires Zuma,  _ and everyone in this house, really,  _ and Blake realizes that he hasn’t felt this kind of love before. He never felt like he inspired people but this family keeps surprising him. Gwen surprises him every day, but the kids? It’s amazing how they warmed up to him so easily and they accepted him as their mother’s boyfriend so fast and okay with it. It still amazes him, up to this day, a year and a little bit more after he started dating Gwen, how at home her kids make him feel. His heart still skips a beat when Apollo asks him to read a book before bed, when King asks him for help with his maths homework and even though Blake’s probably worse than Gwen’s eldest, he still tries and tries until they, together, get it right. Zuma, on the other side, is quiet, like Gwen. The country singer had taught him how to play the guitar and that had brought them together. But he really didn’t know he could ever inspire him. 

“I inspire you?” Blake really didn’t want to say that out loud but it’s too late him. 

“Of course!” Zuma  _ duhs  _ and laughs bouncing on the stool.

Blake turns to look at Gwen who smiles adorably at him and then encourages him to talk to Zuma. Blake raises his eyebrows at her and nods twice. 

“I, uhm… I’m honoured.” He really is. He just gets to go to a school and listen Zuma talk about him but for him, this is like a milestone. The fact that he is inspiring to Zuma makes him want to cry. This is the closest he has ever felt to being a father. Sure he’s a father role to the boys, sure they ask him for stuff and sometimes get mad at him and run out but this love Zuma is showing him is beyond anything he could have ever imagined. 

“So, will you come?” Zuma asks looking up at the country singer, who draws a soft smile on his face and nods.

“Yeah, sure, of course.” He nods a few times and then the blonde haired boy jumps into his arms in surprise. He  _ oofs  _ but immediately puts his arms around the small body pressed to his chest and smiles happily trying very hard to fight back a tear that¡’s threatening to roll down his cheek. Zuma squeezes once and then separates from Blake, stealing his cap in the process. 

“I think you’ll have to bend over to get through my classroom door.” He points out making Blake laugh, letting his head fall back a bit. Gwen joins him and so does Zuma. They have always told him his laugh was contagious. “I can’t wait oh my god, this is going to be so much fun!” He exclaims jumping to the other side of the kitchen island to Gwen, who had been emotionally staring at the whole exchange. “Mum he said yes! Blake said yes!” The country super star giggles watching the scene and meets Gwen’s eyes for a brief moment. 

“I told you he would.” Gwen ruffles his hair and then tells him to go get his brothers for dinner. When the couple’s alone in the kitchen Blake speaks up. 

“I’m nervous.” 

“Why?” She walks over to him, standing between his legs. Her hands travel up to the naples of his jacket and softly presses a kiss to his cheek. 

“What if I screw up? What if they don’t like my jo-”

“Hey, hey!” Gwen places a hand on his chin to make him meet her eyes, “Zuma will do the talking. You just have to sit there and look pretty.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah! I’ve done it once, it was cool.”

“You have?” 

“Last year. It was the first time they did it and he asked me.” Blake raises his eyebrows and then frowns. If last year was the first time Zuma did it, means that friday is the second time he does it and he’s choosing  _ him.  _ Okay, wow. He’s not choosing any of his uncles or aunts, or his dad. He didn’t choose his father. He chosed him. “I know.” Gwen seems to read his mind as she leans closer to join her forehead with his. 

“And he chose me out of all the possibilities.” It’s not a question, he’s just now understanding how much Zuma looks up to him. He chose him. Blake sniffs not being able to hold his emotions any longer and Gwen hugs him then. He doesn’t let any tear run down his stubbly cheeks but  _ oh god.  _

  
  


Friday comes faster than expected. Gwen has some meeting the same time the boys start school so Blake gets to drop the two older boys to off and then drive Apollo to Todd and Jen’s for the day. He has the “Inspirational Person Day” at 12 o’clock which gives him enough time to drive to The Voice studios to have late breakfast with Adam in his free hour. 

 

Around 11.45 he's back at Zuma's school. He finds Gwen talking to a couple at the entrance and smiles at how down to earth his girlfriend really is. She's just another mother is here, or just like any other woman in the world. People in this school respect who she is so much and never treat her as  _ the _ Gwen Stefani which she really appreciates. Blake has never really been to this school before. Sure he has dropped the kids a few times but he has never walked inside or met any teacher or parent just yet. He's about to though. 

When he reaches for Gwen he lets his hand place in the small of her back and softly presses his lips to her hair. 

"Hi!" She half squeals turning to his and standing on her tiptoes to press her lips to his in a quick kiss completely ignoring the company. 

"Hi darlin'." His country accent still makes her weak at the knees. Realizing they have company Blake spins on his toes and introduces himself. 

"Oh, we know!" The woman laughs a little and the man offers his hand for Blake to take. 

"Mike." The suit wearing man says as he shakes Blake's hand. Is this a suit kinda thing?  _ Oh god.  _ He hopes it is not. Even though Blake's wearing one of his new plaid he's still looks like a farmer next to this man. 

"I'm Diane. Nice to meet you." 

"Likewise." He flashes them a smile and small talks with both and Gwen for a few minutes before they have to go inside. 

When he walks inside the classroom he spots Zuma in the second row. The boy waves at his mother and him and then tells Blake to come over and sit on the vacant chair next to him. The country singer looks at Gwen, who nods and softly squeezes his arm. 

Blake feels like everyone's looking at him as he walks to the other side of the classroom. There's a lot of suit wearing men and well dressed women. Of course there's a few wearing more casual clothes but he suddenly regrets not slipping into a white dress shirt and a vest. 

"Hi buddy!" He high fives Zuma who bounces on his feet excitingly.  

"Blake!" He then wraps his small arms around his middle making Blake draw a soft smile on his lips as he softly touches Zuma's hair. When they sit down Zuma leans over to him. "Can I tell you a secret?" Blake nods. The blonde boy puts his hands on Blake's ear and softly whispers in his ear. "I'm so excited and nervous at the same time." 

Blake chuckles and then imitates Zuma's moves and whispers in his small ear, "Can I tell you a secret?" Zuma nods, "I am too." He pulls away to look at the boy, who shakes his head at him. 

"You can't be nervous, you play for thousands of people at your concerts. There's not more than 50 here" he points out. 

"I still get nervous at my concerts, you know?" 

"You do?" 

"Yep, all the time. And do you know what I do to calm down? I take deep breaths and think about how much fun I'm going to have." He talks slow and low for only Zuma to listen. The boy looks up at him completely taking in his words. 

"I didn't know grown ups got nervous." 

Blake lets out a little laugh, "of course we do, bud. All the time." 

"Yeah?" 

"Sure."

"What other things make you nervous?" Zuma asks. Blake turns around to look at Gwen who locks eyes with him for a moment and shows her his dimples for a brief moment. Turning to look at Zuma, Blake chuckles. 

"Your mother." 

"Mum makes you nervous? How?" He's so surprised and takes aback by his words that Blake can't help but softly laugh. This kid is too much. And he asks lots of questions as well. 

"She's just so... amazing and cool. I was so nervous to hang out with her at first." 

"But you're cool too." 

Blake grins, "She's cooler." 

"You shouldn't be nervous to hang out with mum, Blake." 

Blake's about to reply when a fresh out of college man walks inside the classroom ordering the kids to sit down. Blake obliges and so do the other inspirational people. 

 

Blake and Zuma watch kids stand in front of the class and talk about their inspirational person for over 30 minutes. Some of them are excited and very talkative; some are more nervous but end up giving a good speech and one even runs away crying. Blake feels so the crying kid. This room really is crowded even he would be scared to speak up. 

"Zuma, your turn." He stands up and pats Blake's knee to do the same. 

"Oh right, right." He clumsily stands up hitting his knee with Zuma's table and knocking his pencil case down in the process. He quickly bends down to pick it up mumbling a sorry and then follows Zuma to their spot in front of the class. He spots Gwen who kids encouragingly at his kid and then at him. 

Zuma makes Blake sit on a stool and he stands next to him. Blake just now notices that both of them are wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, only difference, the boy is wearing trainers. Zuma looks at him with a worried look on his face and Blake understand that he’s nervous. 

_ Breath in, breath out.  _ He mouths and Zuma obligues. Once, twice and up to three. He still has a worried face when he looks up to meet Blake's eyes again. The country star leans over and whispers in her ear. "Imagine we're alone. Like we're at home. Just the two of us at guitar class and your mother is watching leaning against your bedroom door." The room is in silence. Zuma leans back and nods at Blake, a soft chuckles escapes his mouth making Blake reach out to ruffle his hair. "Start looking at me if you want." And Zuma does. 

He locks up with Blake who smiles and nods once. 

"When I told Blake that I had chosen him as my inspirational person he almost cried." Blake chuckles nervously and raises his eyebrows at the boy who grins at him, "what? You almost did!" The room burst out laughing even Gwen's laugh echoes in Blake's ears. Zuma turns to look at his classmates and slips his hands on his jeans pockets. "This is Blake Shelton and he inspires me everyday." He admits making Gwen hold back the tears. Her son has only spoken two line and she's already emotional. "I wish I'll be as tall as him when I grow up and play the guitar as well as him. He's teaching me and says I'm getting better little by little. But he's not just only a very good guitar player, he sings as well." Blake listens to Zuma talk about him with the proudest smile on his face. He doesn't know what Zuma's going to say which gets him excited and nervous at the same time. He takes a moment to scan the room and finds every pair of eyes on them. All the kids are looking at him like he's some kind of Sasquatch while the parents and other  _ influencers _ stare at him curiously. "He says he still gets nervous and I don't understand why because he plays for up to three thousand pe- sorry thirty thousand people sometimes, that's a lot!" He puts his right hand on his forehead and huffs. Half of the class laughs and Blake does too. Zuma turns to look at him for a brief moment and Blake breathes in and breathes out for the young boy to do the same. The boy gives him a thumbs up and Blake  **reciprocates** . "He inspires his Team on The Voice everyday. And he has won five,  _ five,  _ times already! Adam’s always mad at him because he’s never won as many but I know he’s only joking because Blake and him are best buddies. When I watch the show I always love to hear his team say how amazing he is and how he helped them so much to be better. He's a coach on The Voice just like mum," he points proudly at her making Gwen blush when everyone turns to look at her. She waves shyly and Zuma carries on. “That’s how I know, Blake. I think I met him over two years ago, maybe more and I remember that my brother Apollo stole his cap. He let me and King sit on his Voice and press the button as many times as we wanted.” Zuma slightly turns his head to the country star, who winks at him, stealing a grin from the 8 year old. “Mum said Blake didn’t have kids and I honestly didn’t know why because he’s such a funny person.” Gwen’s eyes meet Blake’s then. He shows he a sad smile and she totally understand. She knows the story behind him not having kids and it’s not because he didn’t want to, he most certainly did but his ex-wife didn’t. Blake has always been a kid person. He was funny and charming and made everyone laugh but kids, particularly her kids, had always been fascinated by him. “I’m glad he found my mum and now he can play football with us and take us fishing and stuff.” Blake’s arm, in pure reflex moves up to caress Zuma’s back making the young boy immediately look at him in confusion. When Zuma sees the dimpled smile on Blake’s face and he relaxes. 

“Carry on buddy.” Blake murmurs for only Zuma to listen. He had to control his voice to not let it crack. This kids part really got him and he will forever be grateful to whoever is up there for making him find Gwen. 

“He lets us pet all the animals he has, which are quite a lot.” He says moving his hands. The kids burst out laughing and so does Blake. “and he really is a poor dancer but fools around with us every time Kingston wants to make a musically. He’s just so cool, even if he thinks mum is cooler.” Zuma takes a deep breath and continues. “He not only inspires me. He inspired mum to write happy songs, they even wrote a song together and it’s sad but when they sing it they always smile which is weird, because why would you write a sad song to each other when you love each other?  _ Adults _ .” He  _ duhs  _ at the end making all the grown ups laugh out loud, a few tilting their head back laughing. Gwen hides her smiling grin behind her hands as Blake lowers his head laughing. They look back up at the same time, their eyes locking in between laughs. Blake shakes his head with a smile and Gwen giggles. 

“Zuma, one minute.” The teacher calls out. 

“I just really…” He turns to look at Blake, playing with his hands, “He may not be my dad but he does all the cool stuff a dad does and more. Thank you, Blake. When I grow up I hope I get to inspire as many people as you do.” Their eyes stay on one another for a few seconds as Blake tries to control his breathing and his emotions. Zuma shows him the best smile and then turns back to his classmates and their parents, and Gwen, of course and bows down. 

They quietly walk back to their seats and Blake puts his arm around Zuma’s chair for the rest of the speeches. When the last kid finishes the teacher announces that there’s a snack at the cafeteria for everyone to have and chat for a while before the kids go back to class. Almost everyone storms out minus Gwen, Blake and Zuma. Gwen wants to walk over to them but when Zuma stands up to leave Blake pulls him to his chest for a hug. So she decides to give them a moment, so she walks over to the door and leans against the frame, watching the sweet scene from the afar. 

“You did so good, I’m so proud of you.” 

“I did what you told me and I lost all the nerves.” He says proudly. Blake’s still sitting down, but Zuma is on his feet right in front of him, making Blake have to slightly tilt his head up to look at the blonde haired boy. “Did you like what I said? I didn’t know it it was going to be-“

“Zooms, it was perfect.” He cuts him off squeezing the boy’s bicep, “I loved it so much I wish I had recorded so I could play it over and over again.” He says calmly. He really wishes he could because it had been so precious and it had made him feel so loved and appreciated. 

“I wrote it down, I have the paper at home.” Zuma explains, “I could give it to you, if you want. I mean, it’s will not be the exact thing but at least you’ll have it.”

“That’s great. Maybe we could go out later today to buy a frame and then you could help me hang it on the important photos and achievements wall in Oklahoma.”

“You want to frame it?” Zuma asks surprised. 

“Of course. Important things should be framed like all the cute picture your mother takes.”

“She takes a loooot!” Zuma laughs. “Okay yes. We could also get special dinner tonight.”

“Okay buddy, we’ll go get it, you and me.”

Zuma nods and then lifts his head up to find his mother by the door. “Hi mum! We’ll be right there.”

“Zuma,” Blake says nervously. “Thank you. Not only for today but for letting me share with you and your brothers  _ all the cool things a dad does.”  _ Blake quotes him which causes Zuma to grin and hug Blake tight. “You four have changed my life.” He says once they pull away. 

“You make our life more fun, Blake. I speak for the four of us, so thank  _ you.”  _

  
  



End file.
